Three Jeffs Win Titles at NESCAC Championships

WATERVILLE, Maine – Three members of the Amherst College women’s outdoor track and field team won titles at the 2014 NESCAC Championships, hosted by Colby College, as the Jeffs finished eighth overall.

Williams won the meet with 179 points followed by Tufts (126) in second and Middlebury (109.50) in third. Colby and Bowdoin rounded out the top-five with 83.50 and 72 points, respectively. Bates (71) finished sixth and Wesleyan (64) took seventh before the Jeffs placed eighth with 58 points. Trinity (26), Conn. College (18) and Hamilton (12) took nine through 11 in the standings.

A pair of first-year’s took home conference crowns as Karen Blake won the 100 meter dash and Kiana Herold claimed the high jump. Senior All-American Naomi Bates ’14 also racked in a win by capturing the long jump.

Blake paced the field in the 100 with a time of 12.30 seconds, marking the third fastest time in women’s outdoor program history. Finishing shortly behind was Bates with a time of 12.51. The dynamic duo own the top four marks in the 100 meter dash in the history of Amherst women’s outdoor track and field.

Herold claimed the high jump with a leap of 1.62 meters. She surpassed the freshman record she set earlier this season (1.61m) and now claims the second best mark in program history.

Bates, the 2014 national indoor long jump champion, defeated the field with a distance of 5.69 meters. She now owns Amherst’s top-three long jump marks of all-time with leaps of 5.91 and 5.88 meters as well.

In other track events, Bates finished second in the 200 meter dash with the fourth fastest time in program history at 25.45 seconds and Blake crossed the finish line shortly after in fourth with a mark of 25.81 seconds.

Amy Dao ’14, Lisa Walker ’14 and Jessica Kaliski ’15 all took home top-10 finishes in distance events. Dao led the group, claiming eighth in the 1,500 meter run in 4:48.49. Walker and Kaliski both placed 10th with Walker finishing the 5,000 meter in 18:25.70 and Kaliski crossing the 10,000 meter finish line in 38:20.36

In relay events, the quartet of Taylor Summers ’16, Herold, Bates and Blake finished fourth in the 4x100 relay with a time of 48.44, and Olivia Tarantino ’15, Victoria Hensley ’16, Kelli Ellingson ’15 and Dao claimed fifth in the 4x800 relay with a mark of 9:36.56.

Amherst returns to the track Friday, May 2 for the two-day Division III New England Championships held at Springfield College.